An Abundance of Chaos
by sharksarebetterthanme
Summary: Rewrite of Hades's Little Helper. Don't read that one, you don't want to. Salene Rose's life was destined to be a tragedy. Just how bad can it get? She doesn't want to find out, so she'll fight anything and everything to take her life back into her own hands, and it seems like no one wants to make that easy on her.


An Abundance of Chaos

Author's note: This story has been haunting me for about a decade, and I've tried to write it like 5 times. I have a really bad daydreaming problem, and this story is what I've been daydreaming about since I was nine years old. I don't know why my brain chose to do this, but I dream about this character and think about them every day. To a point where they've almost become real to me. Basically, I'm writing this as a form of relief. I just can't stand to have this idea knocking around my brain with nowhere to put it. The basis of this story is just this one character I've created being introduced to every story or work of fiction I've ever been exposed to. Expect this to be ~chaotic~. Also, as this story goes on, don't worry too much if you don't recognize specific characters. There's a good chance I made them up myself or I got them from another fandom, I'll make sure to develop each individual character as much as possible so this can be some weird freestanding crossover ordeal. I'll also make sure the fandoms are in the Autor's Note at the beginning, so you at least have an idea of where they come from.

The character's in this chapter are either original (just Salene so far), from Maximum Ride, or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

**Chapter 1: A painful existence**

Salene was trapped. This was not an uncommon dream for her, as most nights were like this. Since her days in the lab she was quite often haunted by the feeling of being enclosed and compressed. Growing up in a cage did that to you.

This night was no different as she balled up her already minuscule body into the corner of the ominous room. The dark marble flooring and walls were excruciatingly cold, but she shoved herself up against it anyways as she waited for whatever horrors her brain inevitably had in store for her. Luckily, it wasn't a long wait. Some nights the horror itself was the anticipation that seemed to stretch for ages, but tonight was not one of those nights.

"Underworld child, your birth was a mistake. Your mere existence breaks laws you cannot comprehend." It was him again, the most intimidating man Salene had ever seen, and she'd seen a lot of very scary men do a lot of very scary things to herself and the ones she loved. Much of him seemed human, his aged face and perfectly tailored pinstripe suit, his long grey hair and beard, but she knew better. There was still too much about him that said otherwise. He was inhumanly tall and broad shouldered, towering over her and emanating an aura of power, confidence, and rage. The air crackled with electricity around him, not figurative, but literal sparks and bolts like his own personal lightning storm to reflect his mood. The worst part was his eyes, a dark grey-blue that swirled like a tornado and bore into her with his hatred and disgust.

"Regardless, you are alive, and I have chosen a sentence for you and your brother worse than a true death, as I worry that would be a comfort to vermin like you. Suffer in the life I have chosen for you, and may you know no peace." One moment his malicious booming voice was filling the room, the next it was a bright light that forced her to close her eyes, and then when she opened them, she was awake, and it was over.

A glance to the nightstand alarm clock told her it was 3:15 a.m. and she knew immediately that there would be no more rest for her. There never was after he visited her in the night. This was not the first time she had heard his message, and she doubted it would be the last. She couldn't remember a time in her life that the message wasn't engraved in her brain, Salene was almost certain it was the first dream she'd ever had.

Trying to bury the echoing voice in her head, Salene dragged herself out of bed and decided to start her day. She was a creature of habit and enjoyed sticking to a strict morning schedule. If her family would allow her to plan all day every day, she would. She opened her meticulously organized dresser drawers and found her running clothes. Jeb never approved of her early morning runs, but he realized a long time ago that he couldn't stop her. Today she'd do 6 miles of heart-pounding, mind-numbing sprinting. Salene found that the best way to get her brain to shut up was by putting her genetically engineered body to the test. It's hard to think about how you continuously disappoint your caregiver when you're trying to regain your breath and reveling in the sweet burn of lactic acid in your limbs.

When she was done with that, she'd take a quick shower and delve herself into the internet in an effort to learn as much as she could about a world she'd most likely never get to see. Salene was a horrible reader, as she didn't really learn to speak any language until she was nine. It didn't help when the letters would try to rearrange themselves or float away. The learning process was a very slow one, but she was still very committed.

Then, as she always did, she'd start making breakfast, with the help of Iggy if she could manage to wake him. Their mornings together in the quiet house were her favorite. They'd do their best not to wake any of the others up, which was quite the task when all but one person in the house had superhuman hearing. The added bonus-challenge was that Iggy was blind and very much relied on hearing to preform daily tasks. To the two of them, this added to the fun. In the short time that they'd been free from the labs, they'd learned to work together like a well oiled machine and could essentially predict each other's every last move in any situation, whether it be making a meal in the kitchen or the occasional combat training with Jeb. Iggy may have even known her better than her own twin, she doubted Fang could identify her breathing from two rooms over.

She was in luck, after her run and computer time, Iggy woke easily when she grabbed his ankle and pulled him out of bed and onto the floor. It really wasn't a hassle for her at all this time. They quickly set about their task of a standard breakfast, some days they'd try to get fancy and do something special like berry pancakes or stuffed French toast, but it had been a little while since Jeb made a grocery run. The typical breakfast staples, eggs, toast, bacon, were about all they had left. Especially considering the quantity of ingredients required to feed seven Avian-Americans with alarmingly high metabolisms.

With so little on the menu that morning, breakfast wasn't much of a challenge for the two of them. She was still glad she'd woken Iggy up; these mornings were often the only quality time they'd get together during the day without Jeb's disapproving glare on her back or three hyperactive children quite literally hanging off of her. Not that she minded the latter, she liked being the younger ones' favorite, and Max didn't have the same caliber of motherly instincts, at least not at the ripe age of 12. It didn't matter that Salene was only 12 too, caring for the kids came naturally to her.

With Iggy frying up the last of the bacon, Salene started her rounds of the house, waking everyone up in the same order she usually did. When she went into the twin's shared room, he was already half awake with glazed over eyes locked onto her picture wall. Without even asking, Salene knew he'd had a nightmare as well. She approached and he still didn't move, he didn't even react at all until she sat on the edge of his bed and ran a hand over his hair. He shook himself out of his daze and offered her a sad half smile, as if to say he wasn't alright, but he would be. They were good at communicating with subtle looks, it made sense, they basically had the same face. Jeb said they looked eerily similar for only being fraternal twins.

Salene left their room and walked across the hall, she wasn't brave enough to open Gazzy's door first thing in the morning. She knew she wouldn't like what she saw, or smelled, on the other side, so she just knocked. He never woke up the first time and she knew she'd have to knock at least one more time after she got Max up. Max was the easiest, mostly because she was the so on edge all the time. All Salene ever had to do was open the door and say, "Good morning," but not too loud or Max would wake with a start, ready to fight. Like always, Max would get herself up and meet Salene in the girls' room. Max liked to wake up Angel while Salene woke Nudge. Angel was most certainly Max's favorite, even though she'd never say it to anyone in the Flock, but everyone knew, and no one actually minded.

"Hey kid, another day, get up and face it with me." Salene cooed into Nudges ear from her spot, legs crossed, on the ground next to her twin bed. Nudge smiled, still with her eyes closed at the familiar phrase. The internet had told Salene that schedules were good for children, and these children had already been through a lot, so she was always doing her best to make them comfortable and happy with whatever parenting techniques she could find on the blogs. She woke Nudge up at the same time, with the same phrase, and then Nudge told her about her dreams, even if she couldn't remember them and instead made something up. Whatever it may be, it was always dramatic and exciting, and she always told them at about a hundred miles per hour with a motor mouth that annoyed most of the others, but just further endeared Salene. She liked how excited Nudge got about, well, everything.

This morning Nudge was spinning a tale about being a squirrel and storing food for the winter, which coincidentally was the subject of the book Max had helped her read to the girls and Gazzy four days ago. The book's subject was a little young for the kids, but it's what Jeb brought them, so it's what they read. They seemed to like it anyways, as squirrels had now become a bit of a hot topic for them, and they had been discussing them and going to see them quite regularly since.

Nudge was still chatting about her 'dream' when Salene knocked on Gazzy's door two more times, and still chatting all the way down to the table where Iggy had put the big platters laden with food. She didn't really stop until she began making her way through a generous helping of bacon. Everyone was now up and making their plates or already digging in, except for Jeb. Salene learned the hard way that he didn't take too kindly to her waking him up. Anyone else, he didn't mind, but apparently, he didn't like seeing her face first thing. It was just another way he excluded her and pushed her away. She never knew what she did to make him hate her, and he didn't seem to want to explain it either, so after a couple years of fighting it and making big scenes out of the sight of the kids, she finally gave up, and just like her morning schedule, it became the norm.

Jeb did eventually emerge from his room on the other side of the big house. He greeted everyone but Salene and Fang, which was also normal, he didn't like Fang either, but the two of them never fought like he and Salene did. Jeb then made a beeline for the coffee that Salene had put on earlier for him, she didn't know why she did anything for him, but a little part of her deep inside recognized that she still craved his appraisal even if she knew she wouldn't ever get it. She liked to ignore that part of her as much as possible.

"What are we doing today Sales?" Jeb visibly tensed from the question not pointed at him. He hated how much the children relied on and looked up to Salene rather than him, even though they still very much loved him. If she asked about it, he'd make an off-handed comment about how she wouldn't be there for them forever, but he'd never say more than that. She found the way he said it a little unsettling.

"I don't know Angel, what do you want to do today?" Salene gave a small smile, she couldn't help it. When the kids asked her that question it felt like a small victory against Jeb.

"The berries aren't done growing yet, so we can't pick them. We could go play in the woods!"

Gazzy and Nudge nodded enthusiastically along with Angel's suggestion.

"We could climb trees!" Gazzy added. They certainly loved being outside, it beat a cage any day.

"Any objections?" Salene asked the table. No one spoke up, not even Jeb, who the question was really for. The kids cheered, and with that settled they went back to their meals and separate conversations erupted around the table. Gazzy and Iggy were whispering to each other, which was never a good sign. Nudge and Angel were back onto the topic of squirrels and if they would see any today. Max and Fang were kicking each other under the table. To Salene, all was right in her world.

True to her word, Salene and the Flock went out to the woods after breakfast was cleaned up and Jeb did his "Lesson of the Day," thing where he spent an hour or so to teach the group something. Today was about the planets for the most part, but they all did a little grammar and reading too. A perfect opportunity for Salene to be singled out for her inability to read very well, even though Fang was struggling too, he just didn't mention it.

Salene considered the day successful. Everyone was happy, they all learned some, nothing was destroyed, and by the time they had come back to the house, Jeb had groceries, which meant everyone was well fed by the end of the day too.

When Salene laid in her bed that night, she realized just how content she really was. Jeb could yell all he wanted; her dreams could keep her from getting a full night's sleep for the rest of her life. If she could stay in their safe house and could love and care for her family, the message from her dream could never be true, her life could never be a sentence worse than death when they were together like this.


End file.
